Westfield Falls to Union in Legion Baseball Action

Westfield will be a baseball team to be reckoned with once again come next April thanks in part to an influx of players it will receive from a Senior American Legion season that was highly-successful.

"No. 1 was the emergence of Willie Riggs behind the plate and how well he hit the ball," Westfield coach Ken Miller said following his team's 4-3 home setback to Union Monday night in a semifinal playoff that went toward determining which will be the third and final team from Union County to advance to this weekend's state tournament.

Scotch Plains won at Watchung Hills 3-2 in Monday's other semifinal, which means that Scotch Plains will host Union Tuesday at 5 p.m. for Union County's third and final berth into the state tournament.

Both road teams won Monday and also avenged regular season losses to the teams they defeated. Union was 0-1 vs. Westfield and Scotch Plains 0-2 vs. Watchung Hills.

Westfield did well to finish third in the final Union County standings with a 13-5-0 record for 26 points, with its final record coming in at 13-6.

Westfield was also the only team to defeat first place Roselle, while Westfield also defeated Union 5-4 at home in the regular season.

"Will knows his situation next year, with AJ Murray and Dan Kerr coming back," Miller said. Murray, Kerr and Riggs will all be seniors.

"Those players are in front of him, but if he continues to hit the ball he'll find some playing time."

Monday's game was a back-and-forth affair that saw Westfield take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before Union scored twice in the top of the third for a 2-1 advantage.

Westfield then tied the game quickly in the third at 2-2 and took its second lead at 3-2 with its final run in the fifth. Union then came right back with the tying and winning runs in sixth and eventually held on for the victory.

Both starting pitchers went the distance with each turning in outstanding performances.

Union right hander Josh Manto, a 2009 Brearley graduate who will be a sophomore at Union County College, tossed a four-hitter that included 10 strikeouts and two walks. His 101-pitch outing included perfect innings in the second, fourth and seventh innings.

In the bottom of the seventh, Manto retired Westfield in order on 11 pitches, getting a fly out to center, a ground out back to him and a strikeout swinging.

His perfect fourth inning consisted of only eight pitches.

Westfield righty Justin White, who will be a senior, hurled an eight-hitter, with one of the runs he allowed being unearned. He struck out three and did not walk a batter in a solid 85-pitch performance.

Also pitching well for Westfield this summer were Zach Archambault, Mike Mondon, Tripp Nugent and Matt Rivera.

"The pitchers that didn't pitch so march on varsity got a lot of innings with me down here this summer, so that helps out a lot," said Miller, who has been the Westfield JV coach since 1994.

Westfield captured the last two JV Union County Tournament titles during the spring, with White earning the mound victory in the 2009 championship game.
Westfield took a 1-0 lead in the first when Riggs drove in Tim Younger with a sacrifice fly to center. Younger led off the inning with a single to center and moved to second on an error by the center fielder.

After Brett Ryan reached on an infield error during his sacrifice bunt attempt, he stole second base one out later. Then Riggs hit his sacrifice fly.

Union's first two batters – No. 8 and No. 9 in the order – reached base on hits to lead off the third. Clayton Shaw singled to left on a 0-2 count and then John Motacki got to first on a bunt single.

Leadoff batter Jared Sumner then moved the runners over with a successful sacrifice bunt. After White got Devin Zimmerman to pop up to Younger at shortstop, Manto fought off an 0-2 pitch and punched the ball to right field for a two-out, opposite field, two-run single.

Also with two outs and a 0-2 count against him, Westfield's Matt Varakian tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third when he also went the opposite way to right field for an RBI-single that scored designated hitter Rivera, who led off the inning with a single to center and then stole second base. Manto struck out the two batters that came up before Varakian.

One of three Westfield All-Stars this summer, Varakian went 2-for-3, with two two-run singles, his final one giving Westfield a 3-2 advantage in the fifth. Varakian saw nothing but strikes from Mantos, who struck him out on three pitches in the first inning and had him 0-2 in the third and 0-1 in the fifth. The left fielder will be a junior this fall.

"He's going to great player, he really is," Miller said. "There's one thing he has to work on and that's his arm. Lifting in the off-season and playing more will help."

With runners on first and second and nobody out after an infield error and bloop hit to short center that James O'Rourke dove for and almost came up with, Union's Ryan Pascullo hit a long drive to left field that went past Varakian. While the runner from second scored easily, Varakian regrouped and got the ball and threw it to Younger, the cutoff man. Younger then threw a strike to catcher Riggs, who tagged out the runner who tried to score from first.

After getting ahead of burly Union first baseman Jesse Lara at 1-2 while getting him to swing at low breaking balls, White got too much of the plate with a faster pitch.
Lara connected for a fly ball deep enough to center to bring home Pascullo with what proved to be the winning run.

"I told him before the game that we just wanted to throw him curveballs," Miller said. "Actually, it was an elevated changeup and the guy got good wood on it and was able to get the sacrifice fly. That inning we just didn't catch the ball well."

Younger, who was unable to play in Friday's regular season finale at Springfield, went 1-for-3, with a single, a walk and two runs from his customary leadoff spot in the order.

Younger started at shortstop for Westfield's varsity this year and was one of the top leadoff batters and fielding shortstops in Union County. He will be among the best seniors in the county next season.

"This is a great core group of guys and you add Kerr and Murray in the mix and you have a heck of a baseball team next year," Miller said.

UNION COUNTY SENIOR LEGION SEMIFINAL
PLAYOFF FOR THIRD-PLACE BERTH INTO STATES
6-UNION (11-8-0)                       0   0   2    0   0   2     0 – 4  8  3
3-WESTFIELD (13-6-0)             1   0   1    0   1   0     0 - 3  4  1

PITCHERS OF RECORD:
Union – Josh Manto, right hander.
Tossed a complete-game, 4-hitter, with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks.
Westfield – Justin White, right hander.
Tossed a complete-game 8-hitter, with 3 strikeouts and 0 walks.

DOUBLES: Union – Ryan Pascullo. Westfield – None.

TRIPLES: Union – None. Westfield – None.

HOME RUNS: Union – None. Westfield – None.